1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of booting a computer system while identifying the type of CD-ROM (compact disk read only memory) disk drive that is connected to the computer system and a method of loading a device driver and, more particularly, to a method of booting a computer system by loading a device driver program which is suitable for the CD-ROM disk drive after identifying the type of CD-ROM disk drive that is connected to the computer system, and a method of loading the device driver program to a memory of the computer system after booting the computer system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, it is difficult for a computer system manufacturer to use one type of the peripheral device for manufacturing the computer system since the supply of the peripheral devices is unstable. Especially, the demand of the CD-ROM disk drive is greatly increased due to the development of the multimedia computer system, thus various types of the CD-ROM disk drives are used for the computer system. However, the programs for driving the CD-ROM disk drives, which are generally called as "device driver", are different from each other according to the types of the CD-ROM disk drives. Therefore, the computer system manufacturer or a user has to choose and use the device driver which is suitable for the CD-ROM disk drive of the computer system. Furthermore, since most application programs, such as Window 95 and Microsoft Word, and the device driver programs are provided to the consumer as recorded in a CD-ROM disk, the various types of the CD-ROM disk having various device drivers should be produced by the computer system manufacturer according to the type of CD-ROM disk drive. In addition, when a hard disk of the computer system is damaged and a user want to repair the hard disk driver with a CD-ROM disk, a device driver which is suitable for the existing CD-ROM disk drive should be chosen and be loaded in the memory of the computer. After that, the damaged hard disk can be repaired by using the CD-ROM disk. However, the consumers can not easily identify the type of the existing CD-ROM disk drive of his/her computer system, and can not easily choose or find a suitable device driver for the existing CD-ROM disk drive. This makes the repairing of the damaged hard disk difficult.
In addition, the programs for driving the peripheral devices, such as a CD-ROM disk drive, are generally called a "device driver", and their names have extension of "SYS". The file having the extension of "SYS" can not be executed by entering its name at DOS prompt, but the file can be executed by the computer system's operating system when booting the computer system if the file name is defined in the CONFIG.SYS file. The definition of the device driver in the CONFIG.SYS file is performed by writing its name with in a sentence starting with the command "DEVICE=" in the CONFIG.SYS file. For example, if the device driver for CD-ROM disk drive is CDROMDRV.SYS and has an option command of /D:MSCD001, and the file is in the directory of C:.backslash.DRIVE, the following sentence is required to execute the device driver.
DEVICE=C:.backslash.DRIVE.backslash.CDROMDRV.SYS/D:MSCD001
If the above command sentence exists in the CONFIG.SYS file, the computer system loads the device driver to its RAM (Random Access Memory) when booting, and then the CD-ROM disk drive can be operated properly. However, even though the computer system detects the type of peripheral device and knows the suitable device driver for the peripheral device, it is impossible to load the device driver on the RAM when the computer system is already booted. This is due to DOS's inherent limitation, which cannot be easily reformed. The limitation is explained as follows. Generally, when a program detects a peripheral device (a hardware), it has to use a result code to send the detected information to DOS, and a number (integers of 0 to 255) of the result code is sent to DOS as a parameter which is called as an "errorlevel". But the command sentence which can identify the "errorlevel", such as "if errorlevel x goto label.sub.-- x" can not be included in CONFIG.SYS. Thus, it is impossible for the CONFIG.SYS file to detect a hardware, and generate the result code for the hardware, and load the device driver for the hardware on the RAM with using the "if" sentence. Since this is an inherent limitation of DOS, it can not be remedied without reforming the DOS operating system program. Due to this limitation, to load a new device driver on a computer system which is already booted, a user has to correct the CONFIG.SYS file and reboot the computer system.
The following patents, incorporated herein by reference, describe various method for configuring a computer system and/or device drivers for use therein: U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,532 to Wm. Caldwell Crosswy, et al. entitled Automatic Developement Of Operating System Boot Image which detects whether the hardware configuration has changed and develops a new boot image upon detection of the new hardware configuration; U.S. Pat. No. 5,598,563 to Terence R. Spies entitled Method Of Loading Device Drivers From ROM Without Requirement Of System To Have Any Harddisks Or Floopy Drives And Without Using Config.sys File contemplates a method for sequentially storing device drivers including associated headers in an adapter region of a computer's address space. Each header includes information for loading and initializing its associated device driver and information for identifying the address of the header for loading the next following device driver; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,668,992 to Jack L. Hammer, et al., entitled Self-Configuring Computer Systems which scans a systems components and loads appropriate software to support the configuration.